Recyclable surface covering and method and system for manufacturing a recyclable surface covering

ABSTRACT

A process and system for making a laminated surface covering and the surface covering itself are described. The covering includes several layers bonded to each other. The system performs the process. One example of the process includes passing a first material across a first conveyor, passing a second material across a second conveyor, passing a bonding material across a third conveyor, contacting the first material and the second material to the bonding material, and heating at least one of the first material and the second material. The process also includes introducing the first material, the second material, and the bonding material into a pressure zone such that the bonding material is introduced between a bottom surface of the first material and a top surface of the second material. The process applies pressure to bond the first material and second material together via the bonding material to produce a laminated material.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/194,515, filed Jul. 29, 2011, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/756,954, filed Apr. 8, 2010, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/301,468, filed Feb. 4,2010. The entire contents of Ser. No. 13/194,515; 12/756,954; and61/301,468 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

One embodiment of the invention relates to various types of recyclablesurface coverings. For example, the recyclable surface coverings includegranulated rubber bottom (base) layers in combination with surfacelayers bonded to the granulated bottom layers. Another aspect of theinvention relates to a system, such as a manufacturing line, thatproduces the above-noted recyclable surface covering. Another aspect ofthe invention relates to a process for manufacturing the above-notedrecyclable surface covering.

Description of the Related Art

Recyclable floor coverings include carpet, matting, wood, and tile.Carpet and matting, for example, rubber matting, typically requiresubstantial amounts of solvents and/or adhesives during production orinstallation. Conventional solvents and adhesives produce emissions,which can be harmful to the environment.

Additionally, disposal of conventional carpets and matting posesdifficulties inasmuch as these materials can be difficult to recycle.For example, conventional carpets and mattings are often formed ofdissimilar materials, and therefore, conventional recycling techniques,which may include liquidation of the materials to be recycled, arerelatively ineffective.

For example, one type of floor covering provides a flocked layer ofnylon fibers electrostatically flocked onto a polyvinylchloride (PVC)backing. In production of this material, a glass fiber layer is addedbetween a PVC backing and a flocking to provide dimensional stability.The flocked floor covering is screen printed to provide a wide range ofpatterns and colors. However, PVC is generally not considered to beeasily recyclable. Furthermore, heating PVC, for example, in aliquidation process, produces hazardous fumes. Additionally, the need toadd a glass fiber increases manufacturing complexity and cost.Furthermore, the glass fiber material itself may be difficult torecycle.

An alternative form of surface covering provides a flocked layer adheredto a substrate via an adhesive. However, as discussed above, adhesives,and any solvents associated with such adhesives, contribute to pollutionin the environment surrounding the production and possibly theinstallation process. Additionally, the use of liquid adhesives duringthe production process poses difficulties in providing a uniform layerof adhesive. This lack of uniformity creates difficulties in adding aflocked layer to the backing material. Therefore, providing anattractive, preprinted flocking layer to a backing material covered in aliquid adhesive has typically been difficult.

Surface coverings in the form of floor tiles are known. Conventionalfloor tiles are stiff and relatively inflexible. Bending a conventionalfloor tile through a bend radius equal to its thickness results insubstantial damage to the tile. For example, the tile may suffercreasing or cracking resulting in cosmetic or structural damage thatrenders the tile unfit for use.

Conventional floor tiles are further disadvantaged by cosmeticweaknesses. When used to form a floor covering conventional surfacecovering tiles tend to slip when in contact with one another. The edgeof a first tile thus slides against the edge of a second neighboringtile during installation. The resulting slippage between tiles is laterevident as a seam that is visible by the naked and untrained eye.

Accordingly, a desire exists for a recyclable floor covering that isrelatively free of solvents during its production process and whichprovides a uniform bonding layer between an upper layer, for example aflocking layer, and a lower layer, for example a backing material.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the invention provides a floor tile which accommodatescontoured substrates and is capable of interlocking with other floortiles to provide an essentially seamless floor covering. The floor tilemay be used to provide decorative and functional transitions such ascoved transitions between vertical and horizontal surfaces. The flooringtiles may continue in an interlocking manner vertically and/ornon-horizontally to cover walls and other transition shapes betweenfloor substrates and other features of semi-enclosed spaces.

Another aspect of the invention provides a floor surface covering systemand/or assembly which may include a plurality of floor tiles. The floortiles are capable of interlocking in at least two dimensions such that abordered flooring substrate is completely covered with a continuouscovering of interlocked floor tiles. The floor covering system may notbe attached to the flooring substrate but may instead be attached to oneor more walls defining the dimensions or limits of the floor substratecovered by the floor covering surface.

Another aspect of the invention provides a floor covering system thataccommodates features such as ramps or steps such that the facingmaterial of the floor tiles provides a substantially continuous coveringof the floor substrate over any modulations in the horizontal or levelcharacteristics of the floor substrate.

Another aspect of the invention includes a process for making alaminated surface covering. The process includes passing a firstmaterial across a first conveyor, passing a second material across asecond conveyor, and passing a bonding material across a third conveyor.The process further includes contacting the first material and thesecond material to the bonding material, heating at least one of thefirst material and the second material, introducing the first material,the second material, and the bonding material into a pressure zone suchthat the bonding material is introduced between a bottom surface of thefirst material and a top surface of the second material, and applyingpressure to bond the first material and second material together via thebonding material to produce a laminated material.

Another aspect of the invention provides a process for making alaminated surface covering, wherein the process includes passing a firstmaterial across a first conveyor, passing a second material across asecond conveyor, passing a bonding material across a third conveyor, andcontacting the second material to the bonding material. The processfurther includes heating at least one of i) the second material andbonding material after contacting the second material to the bondingmaterial, or ii) the first material, and contacting the first materialto the bonding material after the second material and bonded materialare contacted to each other and after the heating. The process furtherincludes introducing the first material, the second material, and thebonding material into a pressure zone such that the bonding material isintroduced between a bottom surface of the first material and a topsurface of the second material. The process further includes applyingpressure to bond the first material and second material together via thebonding material to produce a laminated material.

In another aspect the process for making a laminated surface includesone or more steps of making a pre-laminated material or layer. One ormore steps of pre-lamination may include adding one or more layers ofpre-lamination material onto either the first material or the secondmaterial. The resulting pre-laminated material may represent, forexample, the base layer having a pre-lamination layer comprising orconsisting of an adhesive. The pre-lamination layer now comprising thebase layer and an adhesive layer may then be pressed or heated with thefacing or surface material to thereby form a laminated surface covering.The pre-lamination layer is added to one or more of the base or surfacelayers using a system of conveyors and rollers such as that describedabove. The pre-lamination layer may be attached to the surface layer,the base layer or a reinforcing layer electrostatically, by pressure orby heating the layers together with or without the application of heat.

Another aspect of the invention provides a surface covering including afirst layer including a rubber material and a second layer including aflocked material. A heat-activated bonding layer is disposed between thefirst layer and second layer and bonds the first layer to the secondlayer.

Another aspect of the invention provides a recyclable surface coveringincluding a first material adhered to another material and a secondmaterial including recycled rubber comprising rubber granulesinter-bonded to each other via a chemical bonding agent.

Another aspect of the invention provides a process for making surfacecovering on a continuous laminator line. The process includesintroducing a roll of backing material into a backing unwind stationincluding a conveyor, introducing a roll of facing material into afacing unwind station including a conveyor, and introducing a roll ofbonding material into a bonding material unwind station including aconveyor. The process further includes conveying backing material fromthe roll of backing material to a first heat source, conveying facingmaterial from the roll of facing material to a second heat source, andheating a first surface of the backing material with the first heatsource. The process further includes heating a second surface of thefacing material with the second heat source, conveying the adhesive fromthe adhesive unwind station between the heated first surface of thebacking material and the heated bottom surface of the facing material,and pressing the face material, the adhesive, and the backing materialtogether to form a composite product. The process further includesconveying the composite product into a laminator and laminating thepressed together product to form a laminated flooring material. Theprocess also includes conveying the laminated flooring material from thelaminator into and through a cooling station and conveying the flooringmaterial from the cooling station to an edge trim station. The processalso includes trimming the edges of the flooring material in the edgetrim station and conveying the trimmed flooring material from the edgingstation to a rewind station. Optionally, or alternatively, the processincludes die cutting the flooring material before or after trimming. Inone example, the die cutting is performed continuously, for example, bya continuous die cutter. The process further includes winding theflooring material on a spool and removing filled spools of flooringmaterial from the continuous laminator line.

Another aspect of the invention provides a computer readable medium onwhich medium is source code. When the code is executed on a computer,the code causes the computer to control a system to perform any of theprocesses described above.

Another aspect of the invention provides a material bonding systemincluding a first conveyor configured to convey a first material in adirection of conveyance and a second conveyor configured to convey asecond material. This aspect includes a heating system configured toapply heat to at least one of the first or second materials and acombination zone configured to receive the first material and the secondmaterial from the first and second conveyors and configured to press thefirst material and second material toward each other.

A further aspect of the invention provides surface covering including afirst layer that defines a first outer surface of the surface coveringand a second layer including rubber granules inter-bonded by a chemicalbonding agent, the second layer defining a second outer surface of thesurface covering. This aspect includes a heat activated bonding layerdisposed between the first layer and the second layer and bonding thefirst layer to the second layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages of the invention, in its various aspects,will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from thefollowing detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of theinvention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a first example of a product producedaccording to one aspect of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the product depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of a second example of a product producedaccording to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the product depicted in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of a third embodiment of a product producedaccording to the invention;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the product depicted in FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7A-B are first and second parts of a flow chart depicting aprocess used to produce products as depicted in FIGS. 1-6;

FIGS. 7C-D are first and second parts of flow chart in which backingmaterial and bonding material are placed in contact with each otherbefore facing material is placed in contact with the bonding material;

FIG. 8 is a schematic representing an assembly line used to perform aprocess set forth in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9A is a partial side view of a system used to produce the productsproduced in FIGS. 1-6;

FIG. 9B is a partial side view of the remainder of the system shown inFIG. 9A;

FIG. 10 is a side view of a backing unwind station from the systemdepicted in FIGS. 9A and 9B;

FIG. 10A is a side view of a shuttle used in the backing unwind stationdepicted in FIG. 10;

FIG. 10B is a plan view of the shuttle depicted in FIG. 10A;

FIG. 10C is a front view of the shuttle depicted in FIG. 10A;

FIG. 10D is a side view of the unwinding system depicted in FIG. 10;

FIG. 11 depicts a splice station and optional dancer and cleaningstations used in conjunction with the backing unwind station of FIG. 10;

FIG. 11A is a detailed view of the splicing station depicted in FIG. 11;

FIG. 11B depicts a dancer (tension adjustment system) from FIG. 11, indetail view;

FIG. 12 depicts a facing unwind station;

FIG. 12A is an isometric view of a platform partially depicted in FIGS.12-14;

FIG. 13 depicts a splice station used in conjunction with the facingunwind station depicted in FIG. 12 along with an optional cleaningstation and a dancer;

FIG. 13A depicts a side detailed view of the dancer used with the facingstation described in FIG. 13;

FIG. 14 depicts an overhead path along which the facing travels, abonding layer unwind station, a dancer used in conjunction with thebonding layer unwind station, an auxiliary unwind station, and heaters;

FIG. 14A is a side view of the bonding layer unwind station;

FIG. 14B is an isometric view of the bonding layer unwind station;

FIG. 14C depicts a dancer used in conjunction with the bonding layerunwind station;

FIG. 14D is a detailed side view of the auxiliary unwind stationdepicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 14E is a partial isometric view of the auxiliary unwind stationdepicted in FIG. 14E;

FIG. 14F is a detailed view of the heaters depicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 14G is an end view of the upper heater depicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 14H is an end view of the lower heater depicted in FIG. 14;

FIG. 14I is a view of an embodiment of the heaters depicted in FIG. 14,but with a powder scattering unit installed for dispensing a powderedbonding material;

FIG. 15 describes a laminator used to laminate the facing materialdepicted in FIG. 12 to the backing material depicted in FIG. 10;

FIG. 16 describes a cooling conveyor disposed downstream of thelaminator depicted in FIG. 15;

FIG. 16A is a side view of the laminator depicted in FIG. 16;

FIG. 16B is an end view of the laminator depicted in FIGS. 16 and 16A;

FIG. 16C is a top view of the laminator depicted in FIGS. 16, 16A, and16B;

FIG. 16D is a bottom view of the laminator depicted in FIG. 16;

FIG. 17 depicts an optional inspection station (guider) and trimmingstation disposed downstream of the cooling conveyor depicted in FIG. 16;

FIG. 17A is a side view of the inspection station depicted in FIG. 17;

FIG. 17B is an end view of the inspection station depicted in FIG. 17;

FIG. 17C is a side view of the trim station depicted in FIG. 17;

FIG. 18 depicts an accumulator disposed downstream of the coolingstation and trim station depicted in FIGS. 16 and 17;

FIG. 19 depicts a rewind station disposed downstream of the accumulatordepicted in FIG. 18;

FIG. 19A is a detailed view of the rewind system depicted in FIG. 19;

FIG. 19B is a partial view of the rewind system depicted in FIG. 19 in aloaded state;

FIG. 19C depicts the rewind station depicted in FIG. 19 in an unloadedstate;

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of a computer system for operatingthe manufacturing system 101;

FIG. 21 is a depiction of a puzzle-cut pattern that can be applied toany of the covering materials described herein;

FIG. 21A is a detail view of an edge of the puzzle-cut pattern includinga chamfer;

FIG. 22 depicts a side view of an arrangement of the laminator with afirst part of an optional/alternative continuous die cutting pathway;and

FIG. 23 depicts the second part of the optional/alternative continuousdie cutting pathway shown in FIG. 22.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designateidentical or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

With reference to FIG. 1, one example of a surface covering according tothe present invention is depicted in isometric view. The product 100includes a layer of facing material 110 bonded to a layer of backingmaterial 130 via a layer of bonding material 120. In other words, thebonding material 120 is sandwiched between the facing material 110 andthe backing material 130.

In the depicted embodiment, the facing material 110 is a rubber materialsuch as EPDM (ethylene propylene diene Monomer (M-class) rubber).However, other facing materials may be used. The bonding material 120 isa heat-activated bonding material, i.e., one that is typically in solidform at room temperature 21° C. (70° F.) and becomes much less viscousat higher temperatures, typically about 48° C. (118° F.) and above. Inone example, the bonding material becomes partially liquefied betweenabout 48° C. and 180° C. The term “about” in this document means plus orminus ten percent, when dealing with numerical values. The bondingmaterial 120 is sandwiched between the facing material 110 and thebacking material 130 in a process described later. One benefit of usinga bonding material that is in solid or semi-solid form at roomtemperature such as the bonding material 120 is that the facing material110 may be bonded to the backing material 130 with relatively littlesolvent in comparison with conventional bonding techniques used forconventional flooring materials. In one example, the bonding material120 is mostly or entirely free of hydrocarbon solvents. In anotherexample, the bonding material 120 is mostly or entirely free of allsolvents, including organic and inorganic solvents. Additionally, thebonding material 120 can be disposed between the facing material 110 andthe backing material 130 in a relatively uniform layer. In other words,lumps, bubbles, runs, or other irregularities that may be present whenapplying a typical liquid-based adhesive to a backing material can bereduced or avoided. The above-noted increase in uniformity of thebonding layer can provide an improved appearance to the finished productinasmuch as the facing material 110 may include a decorative pattern,and runs, bubbles, or lumps disposed in a bonding material locatedbeneath the facing material 110 may detract from the appearance of thefacing material 110.

In other embodiments the facing material and/or surface materialcomprises one or more of rubber, foam, PVC, nylon, polyester, recycledrubber, recycled denim, laminations film, scrim. The facing materialand/or surface material may include material in one or more forms of thegroup of tufted materials, knitted materials, woven materials, non-wovenmaterials, and recycled materials. In preferable embodiments the surfacematerial consists of polyolefin such as polyethylene and/orpolypropylene. More preferably the surface material is 100% recycledpolypropylene, preferably 100% recycled post-consumer polypropylene.

The backing material 130 is typically formed of a granulated rubbermaterial. In other words, the granulated material is interbonded withitself via a process as described in application Ser. Nos. 11/336,116and 11/468,741, the entire contents of each of which is incorporated byreference herein in their entirety. The backing material 130 may furtherbe material as described in Downey, application Ser. No. 09/931,320, nowU.S. Pat. No. 6,920,723, the entire contents of which are hereinincorporated by reference in their entirety.

The backing material may comprise one or more materials includingrubber, foam, SBR, EPDM, nitrite rubber, neoprene, PVC, urethane,polyurethane, latex, cork, rubber/cork, cellulose, leather, cotton, EVAand recycled material. The backing material may include material in oneor more forms of the group of tufted materials, knitted materials, wovenmaterials, non-woven materials, and recycled materials.

The backing material 130 may be produced from granulated rubber materialsuch as recycled rubber material from discarded automobile tires, forexample. Additionally, the backing material 130 may be formed, entirely,or partially, from material produced by recycling discarded floorcoverings, for example, floor coverings using the same type of backingmaterial as the backing material 130. Thus, the costs and environmentalimpact of producing the backing material 130 may be less thanconventional backing materials inasmuch as the backing material 130 maybe produced by recycling other products (such as tires, floor matting,shoe soles or carpet) or incorporating used backing material that isidentical or similar to the backing material 130 in composition. In oneexample, the product 100 is itself ground into particles andinter-bonded by heat fusion or a chemical bonding agent to form a newlayer of backing material 130. Depending on the content of the productsrecycled to form the backing material 130, additional rubber materialssuch as raw rubber or substantially pure rubber may be added to form amixture of recycled materials and raw materials. For example, the entireflooring material 100 may be ground to form granules. Then, depending onwhether the granules formed by this process contain impurities orundesirable materials, granules formed from raw rubber material or frommore pure recycled rubber may be added to create an appropriate mixtureof recycled and raw materials. Pressure, a binder and/or heat may beadded to the mixture to form a billet of rubber backing material withinter-bonded granules. The billet is typically cylindrical in shape andis cut, shaved, or shaped by rotating the billet while a blade ispressed against the billet to form a continuous sheet or layer ofbacking material 130. The backing material 130 is then rolled into aroll inasmuch as this material is typically thin and flexible enough tobend without breaking.

In one example, the backing material 130 includes 10% or more ofgranulated recycled rubber material from a flooring material such as theflooring material represented by reference numeral 100. In anotherexample, the backing material 130 is substantially 100% recycledmaterial from a flooring material such as the flooring material 100depicted in FIG. 1, FIG. 3, or FIG. 5. In other words, the entiresurface covering 100 may be turned into a backing material 130 for afollowing generation of surface covering 100.

FIG. 2 describes a side view of the flooring material 100 depicted inFIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the backing layer 130 typically includesgranules 135 interbonded with each other to form the backing material130. The granules 135 may be bonded to each other via partial meltingwith or without the addition of a binder material. In a preferredembodiment the granules are at least partially alloyed. Such alloyingcan occur, for example, when the granules are heated together andpressed and/or partially melted together such that the partially meltedportions of the granules disperse into one another and or result inchemical or physically inter-bonding and/or interpenetration with onanother.

The base layer material preferably comprises two different type ofgranules, for example a first granulated rubber and a second granulatedrubber where such different granulated rubbers are preferablyinter-bonded and/or alloyed with one another. The two types of rubbergranules may different in their respective physical and chemicalproperties although the chemical composition may be substantially thesame between two types of granules that differ substantially in physicalproperties. The rubber granules may differ in properties such as maximumdimension, aspect ratio, density, hardness, modulus of elasticity,number average molecular weight, weight average molecular weight,polydispersity, degree of cross-linking, glass transition temperature,melting point, degree of unsaturation and combinations thereof. Thegranules can differ in such properties by amount of 1%, 3%, 5%, 8%, 10%,15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 50%, 75%, 80%, 95%, 100%, 150%, 200%, andany multiples such as 1×, 2×, 3×, 4×, 5× of the figures given above.Preferably the melting and glass transition temperatures of the twotypes of granules are similar to one another such that alloying may becarried out at a temperature that is not greater than the meltingtemperature of either type of granule.

As is apparent from FIG. 2, the interbonded granules 135 can produce arelatively uneven surface. Accordingly, application of a liquid adhesiveto such a surface creates difficulties in the application of a facingmaterial to the backing material 130. This is so because the highportions and low portions of the granules 135, when coated with a liquidadhesive, tend to create high spots and low spots in the adhesive layer.Accordingly, the flooring material 100 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 isformed with a process using a bonding material that is typically insolid or semi-solid form at room temperature. Once the bonding material120 is applied to either the backing material 130 or the facing material110, heat activates the bonding material 120, and the facing material110 and the backing material 130 are adhered to each other. The heat maybe introduced to the bonding material 120 in the form of heat stored inat least one of the materials 110 and 130. The heat may be applied via alamp, for example, an infrared lamp which will be discussed later.Alternatively, or additionally, the heat may be applied to the bondingmaterial 120 via a heating apparatus after the facing material 110sandwiches the bonding material 120 with the backing material 130.

FIGS. 3 and 4 depict an enhanced facing material 112 disposed on thebonding material 120 rather than the rubber material 110 described inFIG. 1. The enhanced may include one or more of a flocked material, atufted material, recycled fibers, a woven fabric, a non-woven fabric,wear-layers, cotton fibers, a monolithic layer, a punched material, anembossed material, a needlepoint and/or synthetic fibers. Similarprocesses to those described above and hereafter regarding bonding thefacing material 110 to the backing material 130 are used to bond theenhanced facing material 112 to the backing material 130. Thus, theenhanced material can be used to produce a wide range of floor coveringsor carpet.

FIGS. 5 and 6 depict a wood-grain facing material 114 provided on thebacking material 130 rather than a rubber facing material 110 or flockedfacing material 112. In some cases, the wood-grain facing material 114includes PVC. As discussed previously, certain recycling processes usingPVC create harmful byproducts. However, as the recycling process thatmay be used in the formation of the backing layer 130 does notcompletely liquefy the materials used to form this layer, the backingmaterial 130 may be recycled from surface covering 100 even if thesurface covering 100 includes PVC, for example, in the wood-grain layer114. In other words, the recycling process used to create the backingmaterial 130 can accommodate materials of different chemicalcompositions and of different specific gravities. In one example, thebacking material can include grains of PVC material interbonded tograins of another material of a different specific gravity, such as EPDMor another type of rubber. Accordingly, it is possible to recycle thesurface covering 100 in its entirety into a new backing layer 130 if thefinished product is to be a second generation of the surface covering100.

The surface covering may be in the form of floor tiles forming a floorassembly that is optionally connected at points to the floor substrate.Such connection points may include separate and dispersed contact pointsat which the floor coating system (e.g., portions of individual floortiles) are chemically and/or physically fixed to a floor substrate.Physical contact may be achieved using fasteners such as ordinary nailsand/or other devices which penetrate or connect the surface covering toa floor substrate and thereby anchor at least a portion of the surfacecovering to the floor substrate. Chemical means of attachment includingadhesives may also be used to temporarily or permanently adhere or fixportions of the floor covering to the floor substrate.

The floor tiles may be used as a surface covering on substrates otherthan floors. In embodiments of the invention the floor tiles are used asa covering for non-horizontal surfaces. Such surfaces may includepartial or total covering of substantially vertical surfaces such aswalls. Other surfaces that may be covered with the floor tiles includestairs and ramps, including both substantially vertically-oriented andhorizontally oriented surfaces thereof.

The floor tile has desirable flexibility and elastic recovery. The floortile may be bent or deformed for example subject to a bend radius equalto or less than its thickness or the thickness of the base layer withoutpermanent cosmetic or structural damage. In preferable embodiments thefloor tile can be subject to a bend radius of one half the thickness ofthe base layer with full recovery and without detectable structural orcosmetic changes.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the floor covering system hasno permanent or temporary direct attachment to any substantiallyhorizontal section of a floor substrate. In this embodiment of theinvention a substantially continuous floor covering may instead beanchored to one or more transitional portions, modulations, contours oredges of the area which is covered with the floor covering to therebyform a flooring assembly. For example, floor tiles may be arranged suchthat a portion of the floor tiles run into a vertical section of a walldefining the boundaries or barrier of the covered portion of the floorsubstrate. This substantially vertical section of the floor coveringsystem is then anchored to a wall or other vertical member by fasteningmeans such as nails, screws, or adhesives.

By avoiding a permanent and/or continuous fixing between the floorcoating system and the floor substrate the floor covering system may beadjusted, for example, to remove portions defined by individual floortiles for replacement due to excessive wear or soiling.

During installation of the floor covering assembly substantial savingsare realized with respect to installation costs. In contrast toconventional floor covering systems such as carpeting which requireskilled tradesmen for installation, the floor covering system, inembodiments, may be installed at substantially lower labor costs. Theavoidance of adhesives to fix the floor covering system to the floorsubstrate is environmentally advantageous and does not suffer from undueodor generation or the release of substances such as solvents which maybe toxic. As already noted above, floating the floor covering systemover a floor substrate permits replacement and/or customization of floorcoverings by replacement and/or rearrangement of existing floor tiles.

Other advantages may also be realized by floating the floor coveringsystem on a floor substrate without permanent adhesion either chemicallyor physically to any horizontal portion of the floor substrate.Conventional flooring systems do not accommodate moist floor substratesand do not permit floor substrates to breathe. In aspects of theinventive floor covering system floor tiles may be installed oversurfaces which are occasionally, usually or always moist. If necessarythe floor tiles can be easily removed for cleaning of the floorsubstrate and/or to provide the floor substrate greater opportunity todegas or dry.

In an especially preferred embodiment of the invention the floorcovering system covers a flooring substrate having modulations in heightand/or level. Such modulations may be a feature of the flooringsubstrate surface caused, for example, by environmental and/orweathering changes to the flooring substrate (e.g., cracking of aconcrete slab on which a home or other structure is erected).

In other embodiments the floor covering system accommodates featuressuch as ramps or steps such that the facing material of the floor tilesprovides a substantially continuous covering of the floor substrate overany modulations in the horizontal or level characteristics of the floorsubstrate. Contoured floor substrates can likewise be accommodated bythe floor covering system of the invention. For example, floorsubstrates which are contoured at the edges to provide a copedtransition from horizontal to vertical substrates can be covered withinterlocking tiles to provide an essentially continuous floor coveringover both horizontal portions of the flooring substrate and thoseportions of the floor substrate representing transitions such as copingportions between horizontal and vertical surfaces. In still otherembodiments of the invention the flooring tiles may continue in aninterlocking manner vertically and/or non-horizontally to cover wallsand other transition shapes between floor substrates and other featuresof semi-enclosed spaces.

FIGS. 7A-7B depicts a flow chart illustrating one example of the processused to produce the products described in FIGS. 1, 3, and 5. In stepS701, a backing material is inserted in the form of a roll in a backingunwind station 110 (see FIG. 10). The backing material may be a recycledmaterial or a substantially new material. In any case, the backingmaterial may be strong enough to support the weight of a person wheninstalled on a floor surface.

Step S702 indicates that a bonding material is disposed in an unwindstation. Typically, the backing material is introduced to the unwindstation in the form of a roll, as is the backing material.

Similarly, a facing material is introduced into a facing material unwindstation in step S703. It should be noted that, in some cases the backingmaterial, bonding material, or facing material may be introduced in aform other than in a roll. Therefore, if the backing material, bondingmaterial, or facing material is introduced in the form of a flat sheetor some other form different from a roll, no unwind steps such asdepicted in steps S701, S702, and S703 will be necessary.

The respective materials are unwound in steps S704, S705, and S706. Asthe process is typically used in a commercial application, time requiredfor the manufacture of the surface covering is a factor in determiningthe cost of the material. Accordingly, the backing, bonding, and facingmaterials used in the process typically travel within a range ofapproximately 10 to 30 feet per minute. Additionally, in order tomaintain product flow, one batch of backing, bonding, or facing materialwill typically be spliced with another batch of the respective material(or roll of material) in the splice steps S708, S709, and S710.Unwinding can be controlled using ultrasonic sensors with laser guidedcontrols.

Since each batch of the respective materials (i.e. backing material,bonding material, and facing material) is spliced to maintain productflow, each material can be thought of as having a continuous length inthe product flow direction. The length of the respective materials iscontinuous with respect to a production run.

The base layer, preferably a rubber-based layer, may be pre-treated withcorona treatment prior to lamination with any further layer. Furthercorona treatment may occur after pre-lamination and/or after finallamination to form a surface covering having base and face layers.Corona treatment may be used to form a surface having increased tendencyto bond with other layers at less severe temperature or pressureconditions.

In some cases, the ultimate surface covering produced by the processwill include a flocking material that is separately applied to thefacing material. This optional process is depicted in steps S707 andS711.

As the above steps have described the lamination of continuous lengthsof backing, bonding, and facing material, it follows that the laminatoroutputs a continuous length of laminated surface covering, wherein thecontinuous length is in the direction of product flow and the length iscontinuous with respect to a production run.

As the process is typically performed on a continuous process line,before or after the splicing, tensioning of the respective materials maybe performed in steps S712, S713, and S714. Typically, such tensioningis performed via a “dancer”, which is configured to apply apredetermined amount of tension to the respective material. However,such tensioning is optional.

Steps S715 and S716 depict optional cleaning processes. It should benoted that the cleaning processes are depicted as taking place after thetensioning processes. However, the optional cleaning processes S715 andS716 may take place before the tensioning described in S712, S713, andS714. It is preferable that the cleaning take place after the tensioninginasmuch as it is beneficial to provide cleaning as near in time to theprocess that joins the respective materials together in order to avoiddust or other particles from adhering to the materials after thecleaning, but before the joining process.

Step S718 describes joining the auxiliary material to the facingmaterial. As discussed above, this step is optional inasmuch as theauxiliary material is not included with all of the products produced.Rather, in some cases, for example when only a rubber facing material isprovided, no auxiliary material will be added. In other words, the stepS718 is optional, depending upon the facing material used. Oneembodiment of the process adds an enhanced material to a substratematerial to form the facing material 110. Thus, the auxiliary materialmay be an enhanced material such as a flocked material, a tuftedmaterial, recycled fibers, a woven fabric, a non-woven fabric,wear-layers, cotton fibers, and/or synthetic fibers, and the facingmaterial 110 may be the substrate material to which the enhancedmaterial is added.

Steps S717 and S719 describe heating the backing and facing materials,respectively. The heat process can occur to only the backing layer, andtherefore, only step S717 will be included, and step S719 will beomitted. Alternatively, step S717 may be omitted and only step S719 maybe provided. In another embodiment, heating can be performed after orduring the joining step S720, and this heating may be used in place ofor in conjunction with the heating performed in either or both of stepsS717 and S719. In a preferable embodiment heating is accomplished withinfrared radiation (IR). The IR radiation is provided by IR heatingunits that may be controlled by measuring temperatures using a pyrometerand a feedback loop.

As the bonding material is typically a heat-activated bonding materialthat is solid or substantially solid at room temperature, the heatapplied in steps S717 or S719 serves to activate the bonding materialand allow bonding of the backing material to the facing material via thebonding material. Therefore, it is preferable to apply the heat to thebacking material and/or facing material before attempting to bond thebacking material to the facing material. In this way, heat stored ineither the backing material or the facing material will activate thebonding material, and active heating via lamp or other heater may nothave to be applied directly to the bonding material itself. As thebonding material is typically a relatively thin web, mesh, or film, itis beneficial to avoid applying heat directly to the web, mesh, or filmbefore the bonding material is in contact with at least one of thebacking or facing materials, which can provide support for therelatively weak web, mesh, or film and prevent or reduce tearing.Additionally, it is preferable to directly heat the surface of thebacking or facing material (or both) that will be in contact with thebonding material inasmuch as the backing material and facing materialare typically relatively unconductive (insulative) with regard to heattransfer. Therefore, applying heat to a side of the backing material orfacing material opposite to the side that will be bonded via the bondingmaterial can be wasteful because the heat energy applied to this sidewill have to travel all of the way through the backing or facingmaterial in order to activate the bonding material. In other words, itis typically more efficient to heat only the area of the backingmaterial and/or facing material that will actually transfer heat to thebonding material than it is to heat the backing material and/or facingmaterial through its entire thickness.

As discussed above, heat may be applied to either the backing materialor the facing material or both. Additionally, both of steps S717 andS719 may be omitted and heat may be applied after joining the backingmaterial, bonding material, and facing material. Furthermore, either thestep S717, which heats the backing material, or the step S719, whichheats the facing material, or both, may be used in conjunction with stepS721, which heats the joined material including the backing layer,bonding layer, and facing layer. After step S721, or during step S721,pressure is applied to the joined material to form a laminated layer.Additional heat may be applied after this step in step S723. However,this additional heating, like the heating described in step S721, isoptional. After pressure is applied in step S722, the laminated material(backing material/bonding material/facing material combination) iscooled in step S724. The cooling may take place via exposure to ambienttemperatures or may be actively performed via one or more fans or arefrigeration unit. The laminated material is then typically trimmed instep S726, although an optional inspection S725 may be performed beforeor after the cooling. Before or after trimming, the laminated materialmay be die cut in step S729, for example, into squares, rectangles,other polygons, curved shapes, or interlockable puzzle-cut pieces (seeFIGS. 21-23).

Lamination may optionally include a further step whereby one or moreadditional materials or layers are laminated with the materialrepresenting the surface layer and/or base layer. This further step oflamination may be used to form a pre-lamination material that issubsequently joined with another material layer or second pre-laminationlayer to form the lamination surface covering. Pre-lamination may beused for one or both of the face layer and the base layer. Preferablypre-lamination is sued to form a pre-laminated material having improvedadhesion and/or bonding characteristics to a second or third layer. In apreferred embodiment both the face layer and the base layer are firsttreated with an adhesive layer to form pre-laminated layers. The twopre-laminated layers are then laminated together to form a surfacecovering having improved adhesions between surface and base layers.Further lamination steps whereby a reinforcing layer is added to thesurface layer the base layer or any pre-lamination layer may also beincluded. In some embodiments a plurality of base layers is laminated toform a base layer of engineered thickness. For example two layers of astock base layer material having a thickness of 5 mm may be laminated inorder to form a base layer having a thickness of 10 mm. Differentcombinations of base layers may be laminated to form a base layer havingdifferent strata.

In order to further allow cooling and to provide a temporary storagearea for the laminated material before the material is rolled into rollsor die cut, accumulation is provided in step S727, wherein the materialtravels back and forth in different directions across a series ofrollers. The accumulation allows a predetermined amount of laminatedmaterial to be held in the manufacturing line before rolling andpartially recreates the effect of having a process line of substantiallygreater length than the one actually used. For example, approximately 60to 70 feet of material may be stored in the accumulator by travelingback and forth in substantially upward and downward directions eventhough the accumulator is typically about 10 feet in length.

After the optional accumulation step S727, the laminated material iswound into rolls and cut at a predetermined length in step S728 or diecut in step S729. Typically, a roll of material will then be removedfrom the line on a roll shuttle (see FIG. 19).

FIGS. 7c and 7d depict a similar process to that shown in FIGS. 7a and7b , with the exception that the bonding material is joined with thebacking material in step S720 a prior to heating the backing materialand prior to joining the backing material to the facing material in stepS720 b. The same reference numbers are used in FIGS. 7c and 7d as areused in FIGS. 7a and 7b , aside from S720, S720 a, and S720 b. Onebenefit of joining the bonding material to the backing material beforethe backing and facing materials are joined is that the backing materialcan act as a support for the bonding material. Thus, although thebonding material is typically relatively low in tensile strength in itsheated state, and therefore, usually not directly heated on its own, thebonding material can be directly heated while supported by the backingmaterial. For example, while the bonding material is resting or movingalong with the backing material, a lamp may apply radiation directly tothe bonding material before the bonding material touches the facingmaterial.

FIG. 8 describes a general layout of a manufacturing system 101 formaking surface coverings as depicted in FIGS. 1, 3, and 5. In general,the reference numbers 10-19 depicted in FIG. 8 on the schematicrepresentations of the various operation stations in the system 101correspond to FIGS. 10-19. However, it should be noted that the generallinear arrangement of the system 101 is not required, and nonlineararrangements may be used. For example, the various stations 10-19 may bearranged in the form of an arc or segmented polygon, for example.

FIG. 9A represents a first portion of a system 101 schematicallyrepresented in FIG. 8. FIG. 9A depicts stations 10-14, and FIG. 9Bdepicts stations 15-19.

With respect to FIG. 10, a roll shuttle 1050 holds a roll of backingmaterial 1001. The backing material depicted in roll 1001 typicallycorresponds to the backing material 130 depicted in FIGS. 1, 3, and 5,for example. A user will typically push the roll shuttle 1050 with theroll 1001 into position for loading onto the backing unwind station1000. The backing unwind station 1000 is typically either pneumaticallyor hydraulically operated so as to tilt, receive, and then lift the roll1001. If the system 101 is empty, for example after a large scalemaintenance operation, then a user will thread a leader (not shown)through the system 101 in order to pull backing material from the roll1001 into the system as if the system were being used for the firsttime. More common, however, is replacement of an empty roll 1001 with afull roll 1001 after the system has been in use for a period of time. Inthis case, material from the roll 1001 will be spliced via a splicingstation 1100 as shown in FIG. 11. In any case, the backing unwindstation 1000 is typically operated via a hydraulic, pneumatic, orelectric motor 1010 as shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 11 depicts a splicing station 1100, which, as discussed above, isused to combine material from a previous roll 1001 with material from anew roll 1001. In general, material flows from the left to the right inFIG. 11. Accordingly, after the splice station 1100, it is sometimesadvantageous to adjust a tension of the material 130. Accordingly, FIG.11 depicts a dancer, which is a term in the art used to describe asystem of rollers and framework configured to apply a predeterminedamount of tension to a material conveyed via rollers. Although thedancer 1110 depicted in FIG. 11 is positioned immediately after, in thedirection of material movement, the splice station 1100, other positionsmay be used for the dancer 1110. Additionally, more than one dancer maybe used in a given system 101 for any of the materials handled by thesystem.

FIG. 11 next depicts an optional cleaning system 1120 through which thematerial 130 flows after passing through the dancer 1110. FIG. 10Adepicts a side view of the roll shuttle 1050, and FIG. 10B depicts a topview of the roll shuttle 1050. FIG. 10C depicts an end view of the rollshuttle 1050, and as is evident in FIGS. 10B and 10C, the roll shuttle1050 may include a motor 1051 to assist in movement of the rolls 1001inasmuch as the rolls 1001 often weigh approximately 1500 pounds. As isfurther evident from FIG. 10A, the roll shuttle 1050 typically includesa partial section of a circle in order to securely accommodate the roll1001.

FIG. 10D depicts a detailed view of the backing unwind station 1000. Theunwind station 1000 pivots in response to force created by the cylinder1060 in order to move the rotating axis point 1070 upward and downwardin order to lift and lower the roll 1001.

FIG. 11A is a detailed view of the splice station 1100 depicted in FIG.11. As shown in FIG. 11A, various rollers 1180 either passively oractively convey the backing material 130. Within the splice station1100, a user X adjusts a cutting surface insert 1109 in order to spliceends of separate rolls of material 130 together.

FIG. 11B describes a dancer in detail. As discussed above, the dancerapplies a predetermined amount of tension to the material conveyedwithin the dancer. For example, the dancer 1110 includes a cylinder1160, which may be hydraulic or pneumatic. The cylinder 1160 iscontrolled via a controller to apply a predetermined amount of tensionto the material 130 by causing the pivot arm 1155 to pivot about thepivot point 1165. Typically, the cylinder 1160 is controlled by thecontroller based on input from a sensor that senses a force placed uponone of the rollers 1180.

FIG. 12 depicts a facing unwind station 1200 that unwinds a roll 1201 offacing material such as material 110 discussed in reference to FIG. 1. Aroll shuttle 1050 is also depicted in FIG. 12 and may operate in asimilar manner to the roll shuttle 1050 discussed in reference to FIG.10. Similarly, operation of the facing unwind station 1200 is typicallysimilar to operation of the backing unwind station 1000. For example,the facing unwind station 1200 typically includes a motor 1210 thatoperates to unwind the roll 1201. However, it should be noted that, inorder to allow substantially linear operation of the system 101, it ishelpful to elevate the facing unwind station 1200 relative to the levelof the backing unwind station 1000. Alternatively, the positions of thebacking unwind station 1100 and facing unwind station 1200 could bereversed, and the facing unwind station could be positioned at a levelbelow the backing unwind station 1100. In order to achieve thisdifference in elevation, a system 101 includes a platform 1250, which isdepicted in detail in FIG. 12A. Accordingly, with the platform 1250, itis possible to elevate one roll of material and its traveling pathrelative to another roll of material and its traveling path.

FIG. 13 depicts a splice station 1300 for splicing the facing material110 in a similar manner to the way the backing material 130 is splicedin the station 1100 shown in FIG. 11. In other words, the system 101typically uses one roll 1201 of material after another, and the splicingstation 1300 permits continuity of operation from one roll to the next.FIG. 13 also depicts an optional dancer 1310, which may be disposed in aposition other than the one depicted in FIG. 13. The dancer 1310 isshown in more detail in FIG. 13A. The dancer 1310 functions in a similarmanner to the dancer 1110 discussed in relation to FIG. 11.

Furthermore, an optional cleaner 1320 is disposed downstream of thedancer 1310 as shown in FIG. 13. The cleaner 1320 operates in a similarmanner to 1120. It should be noted that water recycling systems areoften used with one or both of the cleaners 1120 and 1320.

FIG. 14 depicts a roll of bonding material 1401 disposed in a bondingmaterial unwind station 1400. FIG. 14 also shows the facing material110, the bonding material 120, and the backing material 130 in relationto each other. As is clearly illustrated in FIG. 14, the bondingmaterial 120 may be provided as a separate element from the facing 110and backing 130 material.

FIG. 14A depicts a detailed side view of the bonding material unwindstation 1400. As shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, which is an isometric viewof the bonding material unwind station 1400, the material 120 istypically formed of sheets from two separate rolls 1401. Additionally,waste rolls 1403 receive a portion of the material from 1401, which isused to cover the material 120 before use.

FIG. 14C describes a bonding material dancer 1410. FIG. 14D depicts adetailed view of an auxiliary material unwind station 1490, and FIG. 14Edepicts the auxiliary unwind station 1490 in isometric view. Theauxiliary unwind station is used to apply an additional material to thefacing material 110 as shown in FIG. 14. For example, in some cases, theauxiliary unwind station 1490 applies an enhanced material to asubstrate material used for the facing material 110. However, theauxiliary unwind station 1490 is optional, and certain products do notrequire the addition of any auxiliary material 105. FIG. 14D and FIG.14E each describe a roll 1491 of auxiliary material 105, which may ormay not be used in conjunction with facing material 110. FIGS. 14F, 14G,and 14H depict various views of heaters 1440 used to apply heat to thecasing material 110 and/or the backing material 130. The infrared heater1440A applies heat directly to a surface of the material 130 thateventually comes into contact with the bonding material 120. Similarly,the infrared heater 1440B applies heat directly to a surface of thefacing material 110 that comes into contact with the bonding material120. Thus, as discussed above, the surfaces that directly contact thebonding layer are directly heated via the heaters 1440. This directapplication of heat where it is needed saves energy inasmuch as it isnot necessary to heat the entire thickness of the materials 110 and 130in order to activate the heat activated bonding material 120. Rather,heat is applied where it is needed most, at the surface where thematerials are to be joined.

FIG. 14I is a view of an embodiment of the heaters depicted in FIG. 14,but with a powder scattering unit 1450 installed for dispensing apowdered bonding material. The powdered bonding material is typicallyheat activatable, similar to the film discussed previously. The powderscattering unit 1450 is most often configured to shake or cast thepowdered bonding material onto the backing material 130 from a positionabove the backing material 130, but other arrangements are possible. Forexample, if the positions of the backing material 130 and facingmaterial 110 are reversed, then the powder scattering unit 1450 wouldapply powdered bonding material to the facing material 110. In oneexample, the powder scattering unit 1450 is driven by a motor that stirsor shakes the powdered bonding material. The motor is typically electricor hydraulic.

In some applications, heat may be applied via another type of heater,for example, a heated blower or a heated roller. Rollers similar tothose shown in various other parts of the unwind station 1490 may beused, but with sufficient provisions made to apply heat to the roller.For example, an electric heater may be disposed inside the roller.However, the application of infrared heat to the various materials 110,120, and/or 130 is preferred inasmuch as infrared heat can disrupt thesurface tension of the material to which it is applied and thereforeresult in superior bonding between materials than is typically availablewith heat applied via convection or conduction methods alone. It shouldbe noted, however, it is possible to add a device, such as a staticelectricity generator, that can disturb the surface tension of thematerials 110 and 130. The addition of this static electricity generatoris often not made when infrared radiation is used to heat the materials110 and 130.

The heaters 1440A and 1440B typically heat the surface of the materialto which they are applied to a temperature of 93° to about 310° C., morepreferably from 180° to 250° C., even more preferably about 190° C. toabout 230° C. (surface temp), and more preferably about 200° C. to about220° C. Other temperatures may be used.

One or both of the infrared heaters 1440A and 1440B may be configured toprovide a gradient to the infrared radiation applied to the surface ofthe facing material 110 or backing material 130. In other words, inorder to prevent the edges of the heated material from overheating, itis preferable to provide greater radiation intensity at an area in themiddle (away from the edges) of the facing material 110 or backingmaterial 130 than is applied to the edges themselves. This is so becausethe edges of the material do not have as great of a heat sink in whichto dump heat as the center of the material has. Accordingly, it isbeneficial to provide a gradient to the amount of radiation applied tothe heated surface. The gradient may be controlled via an electroniccontroller, for example, a temperature controller or a temperatureprogram loaded onto a personal computer. Alternatively, the temperaturegradient may be provided via hardwiring or may be provided viaindividual heat elements disposed within the heaters 1440 with elementsof greater wattage disposed toward the center of the heaters 1440 andelements of relatively less wattage disposed toward the edges of theheaters 1440.

Although the temperature gradient noted above is typically preferred,especially when the materials to be heated are relatively sensitive toheat, some configurations of the system 101 use heaters 1440 withoutproviding any temperature gradient. Additionally, as discussedpreviously, alternative forms of heating the facing material 110 and/orbacking material 130 such as heated rollers or heated air blowers may beused in place of the infrared heaters 1440 or in addition to the heaters1440. Additionally, as discussed previously, the heaters 1440 disposedupstream of the laminator 1500 may be replaced or augmented with heatersdisposed within the laminator 1500 itself.

FIG. 15 depicts a laminator 1500 that presses together the facingmaterial 110 (and auxiliary material, if any), heat activated bondingmaterial 120, and backing material 130 to form a laminated material 100.The laminator 1500 typically includes one or more rollers, and, asdiscussed previously, may include additional heaters configured to heatat least one of the facing material 110 and backing material 130. Asshown in FIG. 15, material is moving from left to right, and laminatedmaterial 100 exits the machine at its right-hand end.

Upon exiting the laminator 1500, the laminated material 100 passes intothe cooling conveyor 1600 shown in FIG. 16. The cooling conveyor 1600typically cools the laminated material 100 by applying ambient orchilled air to at least one side of the laminated material 100,preferably both sides of the laminated material 100. FIG. 16A is adetailed side view of the laminator 1600 depicting fans 1610 depictedabove and below a path where the material 100 travels. It is preferablethat the cooling conveyor 1600 is from 10 to 40 feet, more preferably 20to 35 feet, in length and that the cooling conveyor 1600 does notinclude sharp bends in the path of the laminated material 100 inasmuchas, having recently been heated during its bonding process, thelaminated material 100 does not typically have its full tensile strengthas it leaves the laminator 1500. Accordingly, the cooling conveyor 1600typically includes a substantially straight path for the material 100with fans 1610 disposed above and/below the material 100 in order toallow the material 100 to cool before any substantial bending stress isapplied to the material 100. As shown in FIGS. 16C and 16D, which areupper and lower plan views of the cooling conveyor 1600, fans 1610 maybe disposed in a staggered pattern relative to the direction of movement(left to right) of the laminated material 100.

As shown in FIG. 16B, the fans 1610 are configured to blow cooling airover substantially an entire width of the laminated material 100. Asfurther shown in FIG. 16B, there is typically a gap between the outputsof the fans 1610 and a surface of a belt 1620 on which the laminatedmaterial 100 is conveyed. This gap allows for variations in thethickness of the laminated material 100. For example, the laminatedmaterial 100 may be anywhere from about 1 to about 25 mm thick, morepreferably about 2 to about 15 mm thick, and even more preferably about4 to about 10 mm thick. It should be noted that, up to a certain point,the thinner the laminated material 100 is, the easier it is to heat, andtherefore, the easier it is to bond. FIG. 17 depicts the laminatedmaterial 100 passing over an inspection station 1700. In the inspectionstation 1700, a user typically visually examines the material after ithas been cooled in order to discover any defects that may be present inthe material. Also depicted in FIG. 17 is a trim station in which edgesof the laminated material 100 may be trimmed. For example, the trimstation 1710 may comprise a water jet configured to cut a straight edge,or even a series of interlocking protrusions and cavities into thematerial. The interlocking cavities and protrusions form a so-called“puzzle-cut” pattern in which various pieces of laminated material 100may be assembled to cover a floor the same way pieces of a child'spuzzle interlock to form a picture. However, the typical procedure cutsa linear edge on the laminated material 100, and any puzzle cutpatterning is performed later. In one example, the trim station 1710cuts the laminated material 100 at an angle such that the facingmaterial has a larger surface area than the backing material. In otherwords, the edge of the laminated material 100 is chamfered. One benefitof the above-noted chamfering is that, when pieces of the laminatedmaterial 100 are fit together, the upper surface of the laminatedmaterial 100, which exposes the facing material 110, abuts with an edgeof an adjoining piece of laminated material 100 without interferencefrom irregularities along the edge of the interior of the laminatedmaterial 100. In other words, any lumps or protrusions on the sides ofthe laminated material 100 do not interfere with closely abutting thetop surface of the laminated material 100 with an adjoining piece of thelaminated material 100.

After cutting with a water jet, air blowers typically blow air onto thecut material to dry it. In particular, the edges may be subjected to adirected air stream as this is the area most impacted by the water jet.

FIG. 17A is a detailed view of the inspection station 1700. The rollers1780 in the inspection station 1700 are typically of sufficient diameterto prevent excessive bending of the freshly laminated material 100because, as discussed previously, the laminated material 100 may not beat its full tensile strength. Accordingly, it is preferable to maximizethe bending radius of any changes in direction in the path of thelaminated material 100. For example, it is preferable that the diameterof the rollers 1780 is at least eight inches. More preferably, thediameter of the rollers is ten to twelve inches.

The inspection station typically includes a guider 1705 that pivotsabout an axis P. The guider checks the material for deviation from itsintended direction of travel (generally perpendicular to the axes of therollers) and aligns the material to ensure that it does not move off ofthe machine. The guider 1705 typically incorporates an electric orhydraulic motor in combination with a sensor that determines thelocation of the laminated material. Additional guiders 1705 aretypically disposed upstream to guide the materials used to form thelaminated material, i.e., the facing material 110, backing material 130,and/or bonding material 120.

FIG. 17B is an end view of the inspection station 1700. Typically, therollers 1780 have a length of approximately 80 inches. However, otherlengths are possible, and the length can be configured as needed.

FIG. 17C is a side view of the trim station 1710 shown from an oppositeperspective of that depicted in FIG. 17. In other words, FIG. 17C showsthe trim station 1710 as the laminated material 100 moves from right toleft. As discussed previously, in some cases, it is preferable to applya chamfer to the edge of the laminated material 100 when trimming. Inthe example of the trim station 1710 shown in FIG. 17C, a nozzle of 0.10inch in diameter (orifice) is provided. In another example, a nozzlewith an orifice of 0.005 inches in diameter is provided. As shown inFIG. 17C, a nozzle subassembly 1711 directs a fluid jet into a tank1712, which drains into a filter assembly 1713. Thus, fluid used in thetrimming process and ejected through the nozzle 1711 can be recovered,filtered, and reused in order to reduce water consumption.

FIG. 18 depicts an accumulator 1800 disposed downstream of the trimstation 1710. It should be noted, however, the trim station may followthe accumulator, if desired. The accumulator typically reversesdirection of the laminated material from a substantially upwarddirection to a substantially downward direction repeatedly in order toprovide a convenient way of storing material while the material is stillin an unrolled state. In other words, by repeatedly reversing thedirection of the laminated material 100, the accumulator 1800 can store,for example, 70 to 100 feet of material before the laminated material100 is ultimately cut and rolled into rolls 1901 (see FIG. 19). In theembodiment shown in FIG. 18, about 71 feet of the laminated material 100is shown stored in the path provided by the accumulator 1800.

FIG. 19 depicts a rewind station 1900 in which the laminated material100 is rolled into a roll 1901. After being rolled into the roll 1901,the material is typically moved away on a roll shuttle 1950, which maybe similar in construction to the roll shuttle used to deliver thebacking material 130 or the facing material 110. FIG. 19A depicts adetailed view of the rewind station 100, which typically includes amotor 1910. Similar to the backing unwind station 1000, the rewindstation 1900 typically includes a cylinder 1960 that applies a momentforce to pivot the rewind station 1900 to unload the roll 1901 (see FIG.19C). The roll 1901 is partially depicted in FIG. 19B before unloading.FIG. 19C depicts the rewind station 1900 after unloading the roll 1901.

FIG. 20 is a schematic illustration of a computer system for operatingthe manufacturing system 101. A computer 2100 implements the method ofthe present invention, wherein the computer housing 2102 houses amotherboard 2104 which contains a CPU 2106, memory 2108 (e.g., DRAM,ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, SRAM, SDRAM, and Flash RAM), and other optionalspecial purpose logic devices (e.g., ASICs) or configurable logicdevices (e.g., GAL and reprogrammable FPGA). The computer 2100 alsoincludes plural input devices, (e.g., a keyboard 2122 and mouse 2124),and a display card 2110 for controlling monitor 2120. In addition, thecomputer system 2100 further includes a floppy disk drive 2114; otherremovable media devices (e.g., compact disc 2119, tape, and removablemagneto-optical media (not shown)); and a hard disk 2112, or otherfixed, high density media drives, connected using an appropriate devicebus (e.g., a SCSI bus, an Enhanced IDE bus, or a Ultra DMA bus). Alsoconnected to the same device bus or another device bus, the computer2100 may additionally include a compact disc reader 2118, a compact discreader/writer unit (not shown) or a compact disc jukebox (not shown).Although compact disc 2119 is shown in a CD caddy, the compact disc 2119can be inserted directly into CD-ROM drives which do not requirecaddies. In addition, a printer (not shown) also provides printedlistings of tracked temperatures and tomographic information.

As stated above, the system includes at least one computer readablemedium. Examples of computer readable media are compact discs 2119, harddisks 2112, floppy disks, tape, magneto-optical disks, PROMs (EPROM,EEPROM, Flash EPROM), DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM, etc. Stored on any one or on acombination of computer readable media, the present invention includessoftware for controlling both the hardware of the computer 2100 and forenabling the computer 2100 to interact with a human user. Such softwaremay include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systemsand user applications, such as development tools. Such computer readablemedia further includes the computer program product of the presentinvention for tracking temperature and tomographic information. Thecomputer code devices of the present invention can be any interpreted orexecutable code mechanism, including but not limited to scripts,interpreters, dynamic link libraries, Java classes, and completeexecutable programs. The computer 2100 is typically configured toexecute code stored in one of the above-noted computer readable media,which, when executed on the computer 2100, causes the computer 2100 tooperate the manufacturing system 101 to perform any of the processesdescribed in this document and to produce any of the products describedin this document.

Although only certain embodiments of this invention have been describedin detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate thatmany modifications are possible in the exemplary embodiments withoutmaterially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of theinvention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to beincluded within the scope of this invention. For example, the processand system described above may be arranged to handle various thicknessesof material 100. For example, from one millimeter to about 50millimeters or greater. In embodiments of the invention the thickness ofthe material 100 may range from 2 to 50 mm, preferably from 3 to 40 mm,preferably from 4 to 30 mm, preferably from 5 to 20 mm and preferablyfrom 6 to 60 mm. Additionally, various widths of materials may beaccommodated in the processes and system described above. For example,widths from a few inches to a dozen feet may be implemented.

FIG. 21 is a view of a puzzle-cut flooring material according to oneembodiment of the invention with a series of interlocking cavities 150and protrusions 160. This arrangement can be applied to anyconfiguration of the product 100. In many cases, the cavities 150 andprotrusions 160 will interlock such that a first piece the product 100will have to be lifted relative to an interlocked second piece of theproduct 100 in order to release the protrusions 160 of the first pieceof the product 100 from the cavities 150 of the second piece of theproduct 100. Additionally, the edge of the product 100 is oftenchamfered with a chamfer CH (see FIG. 21A). In one example, the chamferCH is approximately 5 degrees, which results in a slightly largersurface area for the top portion of the product 100 relative to thebottom portion. As discussed previously, this chamfer allows adjacentpieces of the product 100 to rest next to each other (or interlock)without interference from irregularities in the sidewalls of the product100. One benefit of this arrangement is that seams between the topsurfaces of the interlocked pieces of the product 100 are less visiblefrom above. A chamfer such as the one depicted in FIG. 21A can beapplied to the product 100 regardless of whether the product includescavities 150 or protrusions 160. In other words, the chamfer CH can beapplied to straight edges of the product 100 as well as to curved edges.Other shapes and sizes of cut pieces of the flooring may be made, asidefrom the puzzle-cut flooring shown in FIG. 21. For example, large orsmall circles, polygons, curved pieces, and strips may be produced.

Although the product 100 depicted in FIG. 21 includes cavities 150 andprotrusions 160 on all four sides as viewed from above, the shape of theproduct 100 and the number of sides on which cavities 150 andprotrusions 160 are present can vary. For example, in many instances, itis preferable that one or more of the sides of the product 100 arestraight so that these sides present an edge that fits along a wall,into a corner, or defines a particular living/working space. In somecases, the straight edges are un-chamfered while the interlocking areasare chamfered. In other cases, all the edges are chamfered, even thestraight edges.

When installed the edges of first and second tiles are preferably incontact with one another. The edges of the tiles provide a face that isat least partially represented by the rubber portion (base layer) of thetile. The rubber portions (e.g., that portion of the ace that comprisesthe base material layer material preferably have a high coefficient offriction with respect to one another. The static coefficient of friction(μ_(s)) may be 0.5 or greater, 0.6 or greater, 0.7 or greater, 0.8 orgreater between edge surfaces, preferably 0.9 or greater and even morepreferably 1.0 or greater. The high coefficient of friction resistsslippage between tiles and thereby provides a floor covering which isessentially seamless to the human eye.

In another embodiment of the invention the surface coating includes areinforcing layer between the backing material and the facing material.The reinforcing layer may be in the form of for example, a layer ofmaterial that is different from both the surface layer material and thebased layer material. In one embodiment that reinforcing layer issimilar to at least one of the surface and base layers. The reinforcinglayer may be a layer of fibers comprising synthetic and/or naturalmaterials. Examples of reinforcing fiber materials include the fibermaterial that are present in the surface layer, e.g., glass fibers,synthetic polymer fibers, polyester, polyolefin, nylon and the like. Inanother embodiment the reinforcing layer is a layer of material that issimilar to the base layer. The reinforcing layer may be rubber curedand/or crosslinked to a different degree than the base layer. Suchchemical differences may provide a reinforcing layer that has greaterstrength and/or rigidity than the base layer. Curing may be effectedeither thermally or by radiation such as UV light.

The reinforcing layer may be in the form of a woven layer, non-wovenlayer, spun layer, web, dispersed fibers, and/or scrim. The reinforcinglayer can serve to resist extension and stretching of the floor tile inits two major dimensions. Other layers such as a water barrier layer,e.g., a layer of microporous or impermeable material may also optionallybe included.

FIG. 22 depicts a first portion of a die cutting system that may beimplemented in combination with the lamination system described above.In one embodiment, the die cutting system is entirely detached from thelamination system, and rolls 1901 are positioned in an unload or unwindstation directly in front of a stencil table 2230. In such anarrangement, one benefit is that the die cutting station may be usedwith materials unrelated to those currently being produced in thelamination system. Another benefit is that the rolls 1901 may betemporarily stored before being die cut. In this way, the final form ofthe material in the rolls may be determined well after the lamination iscompleted.

In another arrangement, product 100 bypasses the rewind station 1900 andtravels along a bypass conveyor 2210 and toward a mini-accumulator 2220.The mini-accumulator 2220 may be the same or similar to the accumulator1800 discussed previously. Typically, however, the mini-accumulator 2220stores less material than the accumulator 1800. By storing material inthe mini-accumulator 2220, the infeed table 2310 (see FIG. 23) cancontinuously supply the press 2320 (shown in FIG. 23). In other words,as the laminator system typically feeds material continuously, andsometimes at a substantially constant rate, the mini-accumulator 2220allows a build-up of material to supply the press 2320, which typicallyfunctions as an indexing machine inasmuch as material starts and stopsin order to feed the press 2320.

As shown in FIG. 23, the press 2320, once having pressed a pattern intothe product 100, sends the pressed, i.e., cut, material to the outfeedtable 2330 which then may send the material to a take-away conveyor 2340that feeds a shuttle conveyor 2350 that stacks the cut pieces in a stack2360. Alternatively, the cut pieces produced by the press 2320 may bestacked by hand rather than handled by a take-away conveyor 2340 andshuttle conveyor 2350.

The press 2320 typically uses a belt such as a urethane belt in order toaccommodate the pressing action used to cut the product 100. Theflexible belt supports the product 100 during the pressing portion ofthe die cutting process. To perform die cutting, the press 2320 exerts aforce on the product 100 and shears the product 100 into any of variousshapes such as squares, rectangles, other polygons, circles, or theabove-noted puzzle-cut pieces. The die cutting system may be controlledby the same controller used to the control the lamination system or mayhave its own controller or computer system. In one embodiment, the diecutting system is operated via manual control.

Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the presentinvention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is thereforeto be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, theinvention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically describedherein.

1-2. (canceled)
 3. A method of making a prefabricated vinyl tile,comprising: providing a vinyl slab portion; providing an acoustical slabportion comprising a mixture of crumb rubber, Polyurethane foam andresin binder; and bonding the vinyl slab portion to the acousticalportion.